-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Nearly four decades after hundreds of people were led to their deaths in a mass murder-suicide pact in a South American jungle , the cremated remains of nine of those victims have been found in a shuttered funeral home in Delaware .

The eerie find was made after the owner of the site of the former Minus Funeral Home in Dover contacted authorities about 38 small containers left behind on the property , authorities said .

The discovery harkens to a sensational case involving more than 900 people who followed the charismatic Rev. Jim Jones from San Francisco to a jungle settlement in Guyana in 1978 . They believed they were being delivered to a place of racial harmony and social justice .

Ultimately , they were ordered or forced to drink cyanide-laced punch after Jones ' gunmen killed a visiting U.S. congressman and four others at a nearby airstrip .

Of the 38 containers of cremated remains found at the former funeral home , 33 were marked and identified , said Kimberly Chandler , a spokeswoman for the forensic science division of the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security .

Nine of the marked containers held the remains of Jonestown massacre victims , Chandler said .

The bodies of some Jonestown victims were transported to Dover Air Force Base , which has the nation 's largest military mortuary . Chandler said she did not know the connection between the funeral home and the military base .

The remains in five other containers have not been identified .

Authorities will attempt to track down relatives or make arrangements to dispose of the remains , Chandler said .

There was no evidence of criminality in the remains ' disposal , Chandler said . It appears the remains went unclaimed .

The discovery prompted Delaware authorities to conduct an exploratory excavation on the property on Wednesday .

Dover police officers identified areas on the property with loosely compacted soil .

Several bronze grave markers for veterans who served from World War I through the Vietnam War were found , police said in a statement . The markers were to be presented to family members or returned to the Veterans Administration .

More than 900 men , women and children died in what became known as the Jonestown massacre -- the worst mass murder-suicide at the time .

On November 18 , 1978 , Jones ' idealistic dream of creating a socialist paradise turned deadly when his followers were ordered or forced to drink cyanide-laced punch .

Earlier , California Rep. Leo Ryan had arrived on a one-man investigative mission , bringing along a TV camera crew and various reporters . Fifteen church members asked to leave with him .

But Jones sent gunmen to a nearby airstrip , where they killed Ryan , an NBC correspondent and his cameraman , a newspaper photographer and one of the departing family members .

Ryan and his party were ambushed as they were loading the plane with Jones ' followers who wanted to leave .

The 227 children in the so called `` Peoples Temple '' were poisoned first . Syringes were used to squirt the poison in the mouths of babies .

Some adults drank willingly . Most of those who protested were shot by armed guards . A few escaped into the jungle .

Jones was later found with a bullet in his head . It is not known who shot him or whether he shot himself .

CNN 's Chuck Johnston contributed to this report .

@highlight

Cremated remains of nine victims of the 1978 Guyana massacre have been found in Delaware

@highlight

The remains were discovered at site of the former Minus Funeral Home

@highlight

Authorities were contacted after 38 small containers were left behind

@highlight

Over 900 followers of Jim Jones were ordered or forced to drink cyanide-laced punch